


The First Day

by redgoth



Series: The Increasingly Difficult Upbringing of Tord [4]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Tord, Crying, Established Relationship, First Day of School, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 00:51:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7823806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redgoth/pseuds/redgoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Tord's first day of school, and everything is stressful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> when i gave this to my beta the document was titled 'i'd punch a bundt cake' and she was just like 'why/?? do you do this.'
> 
> i don't have an answer

No one had told Patryk or Paul how incredibly stressful sending their son off to his first day of school would be.

Sure, they’d made it through preschool, they had made it through kindergarten.

But… first grade was something new.

And unlike the first days of preschool and kindergarten, Tord was hiding now. And neither Paul nor Patryk knew where in the hell he was.

The morning  _ started _ normal enough, with Patryk going into his son’s room to wake him up for the first day of school. Paul was making breakfast in the kitchen, his radio on the counter beside him, quietly playing old music from the sixties.

It took approximately three and a half minutes for that peaceful setting to fall apart.

After Patryk had woken the boy up, had started getting him dressed, he began to talk about the day to come.

And it seemed… Tord was having  _ none of it. _

He darted out his bedroom door, pushing past his dad, and briefly zipping around the house. Paul watched as he ran down the stairs and through the kitchen with minor puzzlement, but after watching Patryk rip out after him, he decided maybe… no eggs and bacon today.

The house was briefly filled with shouting from all three, Tord’s screechy ‘no!’s, Patryk’s angry grunting, and Paul’s noises of almost success, which quickly turn into swear words as Tord escaped.

That had been fourteen minutes ago. Five minutes since they had actually lost sight of Tord.

“God dammit.” Patryk said under his breath and he wandered around the living room, looking behind the couch and under the coffee table for their rambunctious son. “We’re going to be late…”

“I think we’ll be good.” Paul shrugged.

Patryk turned to glower at him for a moment. “How do you figure?”

“Well,” Paul turned on his heel and walked towards the kitchen, “when you got up this morning you said you’d wake Tord up earlier than necessary, in case he tries to pull anything.”

Patryk stood there for a moment, a blank look on his face. “I did?”

“Yes.” Paul said as he rummaged through the cabinets, not even throwing a look at his partner.

“I… I need some coffee.”

“Already on it.”

“I love you so much.” Patryk leaned on the kitchen doorway, looking at the back of Paul’s head. Paul snickered.

“If you want me to go catch him, you can make the coffee?”

“I like that idea.” Patryk sighed, slowly slipping through the entryway. Paul handed him a container of instant coffee and leaned up to press his forehead against Patryk’s. They stood there for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes, before Patryk leaned in to kiss Paul’s lips. Paul accepted the short kiss before pulling away, and giving his partner a smile.

“Time to catch the little monster.” He declared.

Patryk let out a little laugh. “I wish you luck.”

“I’m definitely going to need it.” He said as walked out through the kitchen door.

Patryk went on his way to the coffee pot, and Paul began his search for Tord.

Paul was pretty confident in his knowledge of Tord’s hiding spots. He knew the kid could climb dressers to get what he wanted or go where he needed. Most furniture in general was just an obstacle course for him. He liked hiding up high.

He went into Tord’s bedroom first. He looked under the bed, in the hamper, in the closet… on the top shelf of the closet… and in his toy chest. Not in his bedroom. Got it.

He walked to the bathroom next, pulling back the shower curtain, looking in the cabinet under the sink, and behind the door. No Tord.

Next place would be… his and Patryk’s room.

He pushed the door open slowly, and heard the tiniest of gasps. He shut the door then, walking further into the room.

He looked under the bed first. No sign. He stood up and walked over to the dresser, looking around it. He was relatively sure he knew where Tord was at this point. This was just for show.

After quickly checking out every corner of the room, he walked over to the closet. He rested his hand on the door, closing his eyes in an attempt to focus on any noise that could be coming from the closet.

He opened his eyes and opened the closet door. And was immediately shot on the head with a foam bullet. He let out a started noise, hand going to his forehead as he looked around the dark closet.

Tord sat on the top shelf, perched up with his red blanket draped around his shoulders and his nerf gun pointed directly at his father. Paul grunted, hand slipping down from his face to fold his arms across his chest.

“Tord.” He said, trying to keep his voice calm and even. “You have to go to school.”

“No!” Tord screeched, tensing up on his shelf. “I don’t wanna!”

“Tord…” He said again. The boy on the shelf wiggled around a little, eyes darting from his dad to the exit.

“Can’t make me!” He shrieked and he threw the nerf gun to the floor, quickly attempting to jump off the top shelf. Paul made a noise somewhat similar to a squawk and threw his arms out to catch the small boy. He stumbled backwards as Tord landed on top of him, red blanket covering both of them. Tord squirmed and waggled around in his dad’s arms, screeching and squawking all the way. Paul grabbed the blanket and yanked it off of them, before hoisting the boy over his shoulder and leaving his room.

“No! No!” Tord screamed, wiggling around.

“It’s the first day, Tord, you’re going to be fine.” Paul grunted as he crossed the hall to Tord’s room.

“No!” Tord yelled.

Paul rolled his eyes. He stood close by the door as he pulled Tord off of him and set him down on the floor. He immediately scrambled around, looking for a new hiding place, but it seemed he was running out of steam and will to fight. Either that or he was debating on the best temper tantrum tactics. Paul leaned forward and grabbed his shirt off the floor. Seemed Patryk couldn’t even get Tord completely dressed before the child took off.

“C’mon, Tord. Come here.” Paul said, cautiously taking a step toward him.

The boy refused to move. Tears were filling in his eyes, and Paul sighed softly, leaning down to try and be eye level with his son. He held his arms open and Tord jumped forwards and wrapped his arms tightly around his dad.

“You’ll be alright, Tord.” Paul said quietly and he rubbed the boy’s back, feeling him shake and shiver. “You’ll have fun. Maybe you’ll even make some friends.”

“Don’t wanna.” Tord hiccuped, pressing his face against Paul’s shoulder.

“I know, buddy…” Paul sighed, bringing the small boy closer to him and standing up. Tord wrapped his legs around Paul’s torso. “But ya gotta, every kid goes to school.”

“So.” Tord’s small fists balled around Paul’s white t-shirt.

“So, you’re a kid. You’re going to go to school.”

“Dumb.” Tord scoffed.

“I know. But you’re going.”

Tord groaned, his grip on his dad finally loosening. He wasn't getting anywhere. Time to give in. He pulled back and rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. Paul smiled, moving to hold Tord with one hand and wiping away his remaining tears with the other.

“You’ll be fine, kiddo.” He said, ruffling Tord’s hair. The boy squeaked and swatted at Paul’s hand. His father let out a little laugh. “How about we get you dressed, then we can have breakfast with Dad?”

Tord let out a dramatic sigh, muttering an ‘okay’ before leaning backwards in Paul’s arms. Paul leaned so Tord could dangle backwards, and the boy erupted into laughter.

After a few moments of giggles, Paul set Tord down on the ground.

“Arms.” He said, and Tord lifted his arms above his head. Paul pulled off Tord’s pajama shirt, tossing it at the hamper, and switching it off with the shirt Patryk had picked out. It seemed Patryk had managed to get him into his pants and socks, at least. 

The two walked down the stairs together, walking into the kitchen.

Patryk was sitting at the kitchen table, cup of coffee in hand.

Tord shuffled over and took a seat next to his dad, sparking up a conversation right away.

As Paul grabbed the loaf of bread and put two slices into the toaster he heard Tord’s quiet apology for running off. He smiled to himself, pulling out a jar of jam and the Nutella container from the cupboard. How mature of his little baby…

When the toast came up, he spread them with the condiments before turning back towards his family. He handed the jam covered toast to Patryk, and the chocolate cover one to Tord.

“Alright, hurry up and eat, we’ve got thirty minutes.” Paul said, taking a seat across from them.

“Aren’t you gunna eat?” Tord said, already stuffing his face with bread.

“I already ate. Before you ran off and caused a mess.” He hummed. Tord glared at him from across the table for a brief moment, before shrugging his shoulders and continuing with his toast. Patryk smiled.

After the small breakfast, the three loaded into the car, Paul and Patryk up front, Tord in his booster seat in the back.

The drive was a bit chaotic, filled with conversation and yelling, and Paul’s old music.

When they pulled into the school parking lot, the smile on Tord’s face fell and he sank down in his seat. Patryk parked the car, and he and Paul got out of the car while Tord unbuckled himself. Patyk pulled his door open, and Tord carefully hopped out, holding his small backpack close to his chest. He waddled beside his dads, slowly slipping his arms through the straps and grabbing for Patryk’s hand. He took Paul’s hand next, and the three walked up to the front door of the school.

Patryk squeezed his son’s hand, and the boy looked up, eyeing the smile his father was giving him. He hesitated for a moment, before shyly smiling back.

Once they reached Tord’s new classroom, the two parents took turns giving their son hugs. There was a few tears (most of them were Paul’s), and whispered encouragements. When Patryk and Paul stepped back, Tord stared up at them, hands going together as he looked worriedly around the room, at the other kids who had already arrived and were talking to each other off in a corner of the room.

“Go on,” Patryk smiled, shooing away his son. “Make some friends! Have fun! Go!”

Tord bit his lip, nodding his head curtly before quickly running off to join the other kids.

Paul and Patryk took a step closer to each other, a sigh of relief leaving their lips as they took each other’s hands and turned away from the classroom. They walked out slowly, out towards the parking lot. A few tears rolled down Paul’s cheeks. Patryk gawked.

“Are you crying?” He asked, turning towards his partner and walking sideways.

“He’s growing up!” Paul hissed, yanking his free hand up to his face to wipe his eyes.

“Aww.” Patryk let out a tiny laugh, and stepped towards Paul, wrapping his arms around his partner. Paul clung onto Pat, hiding his face against Patryk’s shoulder. “It’s okay.” Patryk laughed, patting Paul’s back.

“He’s gunna be a moody teenager soon!” Paul whined.

“Paul, he’s five…”

“Yeah, and yesterday he was just a baby who could barely stand up!”

“You need your memory checked.” Patryk smiled, casually pulling away so they could continue to walk to the car.

“He’s a  _ baby _ .” Paul continued, trudging forwards.

“Babies grow.” Patryk sighed, leaning into Paul.

“He’s going to be a trouble maker. He needs to stay small.” Paul groaned.

Patryk rolled his eyes, squeezing Paul’s hand.

“Let’s go home.” Patryk said.

“Okay…” Paul murmured.

 

Thankfully, Tord’s first day of school went very well.

As soon as Paul and Patryk picked him up, he chatted excitedly about some of the boys in his class, (hopefully) new friends, about the teacher, and the things they did that day. He cackled and clapped his hands together as he talked.

It was a relief to Patryk and Paul, from how Tord had reacted this morning.

Things were looking up.


End file.
